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Australia: Asciano gives Qube access to its books for $9b takeover bid

By  |  November 16, 2015

Qube will start delving into Asciano’s financial statements with the aim of making a formal $9 billion takeover bid in December after the ports and rail group said it could go ahead and do due diligence.

Asciano said on Monday that its board had decided to give the Qube consortium, which includes the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Global Infrastructure Partners, access to confirmatory due diligence, after the parties agreed on “appropriate confidentiality arrangements”.

Qube competes with Asciano in the logistics industry and the ports and rail group has been wary of giving the Qube consortium access to commercially sensitive information, drawing out negotiations.

The confidentiality agreements are expected to be signed during the next few days.

Full content: Financial Review

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